Rats nibble away dead infant’s eye in Bengal hospital

Kolkata, April 19 (IANS) As the family members of a newborn who had died went to the morgue of a hospital in West Bengal, they were shocked to see one of the eyes and a portion of the face had been eaten away by rats. The nursing superintendent at Barasat District Hospital in North 24-Parganas district first found the mutilated body of the infant and informed authorities.

“When we came to receive the body Saturday morning we saw a portion of the newborn’s face was badly nibbled. The incident proved there was no medical infrastructure provided in the hospital,” said a neighbour of Boishakhi Das, the mother of the infant.

Hospital sources said Boishakhi, 19, gave birth to a baby girl Thursday in the hospital but the infant died the next day. The body was kept in the hospital morgue Friday night.

The incident led to tension in the hospital premises as Boishakhi’s family protested and demanded immediate action against the hospital authorities.

“It’s a very unfortunate incident. After primary observation I think a portion of the newborn’s face was nibbled away by rats. It’s definitely an administrative failure and I will ensure it will never happen in future,” hospital superintendent Ranjan Kumar Majumdar told IANS.

He said a committee led by the hospital assistant superintendent was formed to investigate the case.

A 55-year-old diabetes patient, Gouri Rani Chakraborty, had died in a Kolkata hospital in 2005, after large black ants nibbled away her left eye.